Quint here, formerly known as Antistar. I used to post here about a year ago before the upgrade nightmare but enough of that...I went over to see Mogwai at Somerset House, London but while waiting for them to come on who should walk past only the Godlike genius that is Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine, creator of 'Loveless', one the greatest albums of all time and my all-time rock hero. Anyway, to cut a long story short and thanks to about 4 pints-worth of Dutch courage, I approached him as I would have regretted it for the rest of my life if I hadn't. He is one of the nicest,unassuming guys you could ever meet. So much for the 'never meet your heroes' rule. I asked him any chance of a new album or tour and here's the scoop...

2 new albums: One an anthology of unreleased material from the nineties, and a completely new album.

A tour in 2008!

He also mentioned that they were asked to play a gig 'at some museum in Dublin later in the year' as he put it, I presume this is POD marquee thing at IMMA in late Oct/November but he didn't seem that sure whether they were going to play as they are not ready yet to play live until the proper tour next year....

There have been rumours before about MBV reunion but this was from the main man himself and he seemed pretty definite about their upcoming plans....here's hoping!

What a scoop! You couldn't really ask for a better reply, but aren't MBV sort of infamous for on-again-off-again release dates? I could have swore HotPress announced 2007 would be the year of MBV back in 2006.

According to various web postings I've read recently 3 or 4 people who approached Kevin Shields at Primal Scream and Dinosaur Jr gigs in the last couple of weeks and spoke to him about My Bloody Valentine have all said the same thing - a new album is on the way next year, they're going to tour again with the original lineup, unreleased old stuff is being put out soon.. I'd love to be excited about it but there's been so many baseless rumours about them in the last few years that it's hard to believe it's genuine this time (or that Kevin Shields isn't just taking the piss out of everybody by spreading some misinformation himself). He does seem to be the down-to-earth, unassuming variety of indie legend according to anybody who's met him, which is nice..

Yes, it definitely was Kevin Shields! I was really struck by how personable and down-to-earth he was, considering his legacy. There have been rumours before, you're right, but this came from the man himself and he seemed genuine. Considering the stuff he did for 'Lost In Translation' he still has it, so it's time he really got the finger out!

I'm worried now!! Apparently he has been talking about a new album/tour to fans at gigs for the last couple of years but I got the impression from him that there's definitely something in the pipeline....he can't be this cruel to us die-hard fans for much longer!

Posted By Quint on 18 Jul 2007 6:17 AMI'm worried now!! Apparently he has been talking about a new album/tour to fans at gigs for the last couple of years but I got the impression from him that there's definitely something in the pipeline....he can't be this cruel to us die-hard fans for much longer!

I dunno, Neil Youngs been stringing fans along for thirty years now with this Archive project. Maybe Kevins taking a leaf out of his book.

have to say... i'm sick fed up with these rumours... from a personal point of view, i really, really hope this doesn't happen... music is becoming a carnival...

2008: MBV reform, look disinterested, play a few festivals with crap sound to 20,000 people each... 2009: MBV release a "new song" which is average at best or at least has been surpassed by bands who held them as an influence. MBV go on the road playing a series of don't look back gigs of their classic 'loveless' album...

Reunions and reformations can do serious damage to a band's legacy. Some are successfull (The Pixies), some disastrous ( Velvet Underground), some just do it for the money (Sex Pistols)...It depends how they approach the comeback. For MBV, there will definitely be a retrospective of unreleased material but I think a new album might be unwise. How can they top 'Loveless'? But then again Kevin Shields work for Lost in Translation soundtrack was excellent so he still has it, I suppose.

I used to work with Jimmi Shields, (ex-Rollerskate Skinny &) Kevin's brother. The both of them are really sound & really down to earth... when I met Kevin, I fully expected him to be up his own hole, but he was totally the opposite. It was a few days after Joe Strummer had died & I was drunkenly ranting on about how he (Shields) was the Strummer of his generation. He was nice enough to put up with me ranting on for over an hour, so the dude is a dude in my book!

There are some bands who've reformed after a lengthy split period and put together albums that are very worthy additions to their catalogue (for example, Mission of Burma, Wire, American Music Club, The Chameleons and recently Dinosaur Jr) so it's not always bad.. Plus with My Bloody Valentine they've been ignoring offers to reform and play gigs for probably close to a decade at this stage so I don't think it'd be just money motivated. That said, I have extreme doubts that anything will actually go ahead in terms of live shows.. It's been confirmed that Kevin Shields is remastering their albums for re-release which may include unreleased material but actually heading out on the road to tour again would be a big step. Also I remember reading somewhere that all of them now have accumulated hearing damage due to the extreme volumes they used to play at so if they were to do gigs now they might have to make them considerably quieter!

Posted By dermot_trellis on 30 Aug 2007 3:28 PMThere are some bands who've reformed after a lengthy split period and put together albums that are very worthy additions to their catalogue (for example, Mission of Burma, Wire, American Music Club, The Chameleons and recently Dinosaur Jr) so it's not always bad.. Plus with My Bloody Valentine they've been ignoring offers to reform and play gigs for probably close to a decade at this stage so I don't think it'd be just money motivated. That said, I have extreme doubts that anything will actually go ahead in terms of live shows.. It's been confirmed that Kevin Shields is remastering their albums for re-release which may include unreleased material but actually heading out on the road to tour again would be a big step. Also I remember reading somewhere that all of them now have accumulated hearing damage due to the extreme volumes they used to play at so if they were to do gigs now they might have to make them considerably quieter!

or wear earplugs like the rest of us who have hearing damage...

...hope he's remastering them himself so they're not a half-arsed compressed shadow of the original...

...ah look, if they want to go ahead, fair enough... but i'm kinda sick fed up of all these reunions which ALWAYS are either driven by commercial or egotistical values... can't be anything other...

...i'm actually just a bit fed up of the way music and society is at the moment, everyone looking for instant gratification... now... where's my therapist?